Warren Tredrea

Warren Gary Tredrea (born 24 December 1978) is a former Australian Rules Footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and former Weekday Sports Presenter on Nine News Adelaide.

Since his retirement from football, he has become a sports media personality featuring on Nine News Adelaide, 3AW, FiveAA and in The Advertiser newspaper.

Tredrea went on to become one of the best forwards in the competition, gaining a long list of individual accolades, including being a premiership winning captain, four Port Adelaide Best and Fairests, eight club Leading Goalkicking awards, an AFL Coaches Association 'Champion Player of the Year' Award, and selection in four All-Australian sides.

The son of former Collingwood and Port Adelaide player Gary Tredrea, Warren Tredrea played the bulk of his junior football as a wingman before a substantial growth spurt at the age of 16 saw him transformed into a key position player, highlighted by his capture of both Port's Under-17 Coach's Trophy and the St Michael's College, Adelaide 'student athlete' award in 1995.

Tredrea made his senior South Australian National Football League (SANFL) debut for Port Adelaide in 1996, managing nine games and capping his rookie year with a premiership medallion, booting two goals in Port Adelaide's 36-point Grand Final victory over Central District.

Tredrea was zone selected for the inaugural Port Adelaide squad in the AFL.

Debuting in 1997, he only played one game but went on to be Port Adelaide's leading goal kicker in the following five seasons.

As an 18-year-old developing forward Tredrea found his opportunities for senior football limited, with his largely anonymous debut in Round 2 against Essendon being his sole outing for the Power in 1997.

During this time Tredrea managed 16 games for 16 goals with Port Adelaide back in the local league, ending his year on a sour note with a steady performance in the Magpies' defeat to Norwood in the 1997 SANFL Grand Final.

He ended the season as leading goalkicker with 33 goals, beating leading goalkicker of 1997, Scott Cummings by a goal.

After showing glimpses of his ability in the first six rounds of the 1998 AFL season, Tredrea exploded in Round 7 against Carlton at Optus Oval.

A simply stunning performance reaped 22 disposals, 17 marks, eight goals (a club record), three Brownlow Medal votes and an AFL Rising Star nomination.

His starring role in the 89-point win came at a cost however, with a dislocated kneecap suffered late in the final quarter keeping him out until Round 13.

Upon his return to the side Tredrea struggled for consistency but won his first South Australian guernsey with his selection to the State of Origin side to face Western Australia.

More impressive performances against Essendon (Round 15, four goals), Melbourne (Round 20, 11 marks, three goals) and Fremantle (Round 21, six goals) followed.

He finished the following season in 1999, on 40 goals as leading goalkicker again.

Where Port Adelaide made the finals for the first time in their AFL history.

After finishing 14th at the end of the 2000 season, he led the goalkicking for the third year in a row, with 32 goals.

In 2001, Tredrea imposed himself on the AFL competition, booting 51 goals and taking 169 marks with his contributions as a major factor in his side's rise from 14th to third on the AFL ladder.

Tredrea was rewarded for his season winning his maiden John Cahill Medal as Port Adelaide's best and fairest player and the first of four selections as All-Australian centre half forward.

Tredrea backed up his breakthrough 2001 efforts with further outstanding seasons in 2002, by kicking 49 goals (just missing out on being the leading goal kicking by three goals behind Stuart Dew) with an All-Australian selection and in 2003, he booted 58 goals, being the leading goal kicker for the club a fifth time and getting another All-Australian.

The 2004 season is considered Tredrea's best year as he led Port Adelaide to its first AFL premiership in the absence of the injured captain Matthew Primus.

He started the year in fine fashion, kicking six goals alongside Stuart Dew in the club's 96-point victory over Essendon.

He then kicked five goals against West Coast the following week and booted four goals against Hawthorn in Round 3.

He gained captaincy for the entire year after Primus re-injured his knee in Round 3.

He had a season-high seven goals in Round 7 in the showdown against Adelaide.

He went on to kick six goals against Carlton in Round 15 and against West Coast in Round 17.

He then captained the team into the finals and eventually captained them to the premiership win over the Brisbane Lions.

He booted 81 goals (career best) and took 192 marks playing in all 25 of the Power's games for the season as well as reaping a host of awards, including his fourth All-Australian centre half forward guernsey, the All-Australian vice-captaincy, his second John Cahill Medal as Port's Best and Fairest player, the AFL Coaches' Association Most Valuable Player award, the Showdown Medal, a raft of media awards and was the pre-count favourite for the Brownlow Medal, only to poll a disappointing 15 votes behind the eventual winner, Chris Judd, who admitted in his acceptance speech "I thought Warren Tredrea was a shoo-in to be honest".

At the beginning of the 2005 season, he kicked five goals in a two-point win in the grand final rematch against the Brisbane Lions and again kicked five goals in Round 5 in the four-point loss against Geelong.

In Round 7 there was a controversy after a celebration in Port Adelaide's 47-point victory over the Kangaroos, when after kicking one of his six goals in a best-on-ground performance, he put his hand to his ear in a demonstrative "phonecall" celebration.

Tredrea stated that as an Arsenal fan, the celebration was an homage to Thierry Henry who had "then" recently celebrated in the same fashion.

In Round 13, he kicked seven goals against Hawthorn in Port Adelaide's biggest victory, earning him three Brownlow votes.

In what was a dismal premiership defence whereby Port barely scraped into the finals series in eighth place before bowing out at the Semi Final stage to crosstown rivals Adelaide.

Tredrea repeated what he did the previous year, booting 65 goals and taking a personal best 220 marks to win his third John Cahill Medal despite narrowly losing his All-Australian mantle to Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich.

Indeed, Tredrea played some of his most explosive football ever highlighted by a dominant seven-goal haul on the All-Australian centre half back, Trent Croad, a pair of five-goal hauls on Matthew Scarlett of Geelong and Mal Michael of Brisbane; and a best on ground performance against the Kangaroos in the Elimination Final after kicking four goals.

With the retirement of Primus at the end of 2005, Tredrea took over the captaincy role full-time for the 2006 season but like his predecessor, was struck down by a serious knee injury, suffering a dislocated left kneecap in a preseason game against the Brisbane Lions.

Upon his return to the side in Round 4 kicking only two goals against the Saints, it was clear Tredrea was still being hampered by the knee and with the notable exception of his four-goal game against Essendon in Round 9 and the 16 mark and three goal game against Hawthorn in Round 11, his overall performances were mediocre by his usual lofty standards.

Despite undergoing knee surgery in August 2006, Tredrea's recovery was a slow one, robbing him of vital preseason training, "I started running (after knee surgery) at Christmas, my team-mates were breaking personal bests in 3 km time trials and I wasn't even running," he said.

When it became obvious in Round 15 after only kicking one goal against Geelong and with the Power looking like not making the finals, Tredrea had surgery on his knee early with the intention of having him fully fit before 2007.